1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an Internet based monitoring system, and more particular to a plug and play method and system for viewing live and recorded contents, wherein no IP (Internet protocol) address is required for configuring a capturing device in order to enable the user to view the live and/or recorded contents from the capturing device through Internet.
2. Description of Related Arts
Surveillance camera has been configured into Internet camera, such as IP camera or network camera, to provide an alternative way for people to conveniently check in on their pets at home from their desk at work or to monitor their business from their computer at home in real time. In particular, once the IP camera is configured to connect to the Internet, the IP camera allow people to view the live video remotely by any Internet-enabled electronic device such as personal computer, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone.
In addition to Internet service, IP camera requires an electrical power supply remained in connection, an Internet environment, such as DSL connection, Wi-Fi environment, mobile Internet, and etc., and a static IP address in order to enable the connection between the IP camera and the Internet. Therefore, each IP camera has its own IP address in order to link to the Internet. However, the configuration of IP camera is complexity that the user must have a certain level of communicative information technology to look for the IP address assigned on a network. Generally speaking, when the computer is connected to the network through Internet each time, an IP address will be automatically assigned. However, most users are unable to search for the IP address or are unsure whether the assigned IP address is the static IP address. Accordingly, the general consumers must call the technical support of the Internet service provider for help. It is time consuming for the user to configure the IP camera before it is operated. When one of the configuring steps of the IP camera is uncorrected, the IP camera will not be worked as advertised. It is worth mentioning that most Internet service providers supply dynamic IP address to the customers, wherein the dynamic IP address will be changed frequently. Therefore, before the setup of the IP camera, the user must confirm whether the IP address from the Internet service provider is the static IP address or the dynamic IP address. Generally, the user will have to pay additional monthly fee to the Internet service provider in order to obtain the static IP address.
After the time consuming configuration of the IP camera, the IP camera cannot be worked right the way. The user must install or downward a corresponding application in the Internet-enabled electronic device. In other words, another configuration of the application is required for connecting the Internet-enabled electronic device with the corresponding IP camera. It is worth mentioning that when the user wants to view the live video from the IP camera by different electronic devices, the application must be installed into each electronic device. For example, if the user wants to access the IP camera by the laptop, tablet and mobile phone, the application must be individually installed into all the laptop, tablet and mobile phone while the configuration of the application must be individually setup in the laptop, tablet, and mobile phone.
Furthermore, if the IP camera is connected to a public Internet rather than a private IP configuration, the IP camera becomes open to anyone. Hackers and/or hoaxers can easily hack to the IP camera to unsanctioned invasion of privacy. Besides, the video records of the IP camera are generally sent and recorded in a server connected therewith in the site where the IP camera located and the user is required to access such video records from the server via the Internet connection between the server and the Internet-enabled electronic devices as mentioned above. Some web-based service providers set up the server for multiple users to register and upload their video records of their IP cameras so that the users may access the video records from the servers via Internet by logging in the web site designated by the service provider. However, such public server must be a system that is big and powerful enough for keeping huge memories, disk space and bandwidth of video records and multi-million users to access at the same time. It is complicated and costly and thus generally requires the users to pay expensive membership fee to receive such service.